Letter: Toll-road proposal makes no sense for BR

As you may be aware, a group of engineers have bypassed the normal state and local administrative processes to petition the BR Bump Project with state lawmakers, which will turn Airline Highway into a toll road from a yet to be determined point south of the Interstate 12 entrance to the Interstate 110 entrance.

What this means to the businesses along Airline Highway, as well as those fed by the only major north–south thoroughfare in Baton Rouge proper, is a tremendous financial impact.

It will drive traffic away from this area to alternate traffic paths to get from one side of town to the other.

As we are aware, the interstate systems in Baton Rouge have no room for additional traffic, nor do the surface streets serving the north–south routes in Baton Rouge.

Diversion of traffic from Airline to these alternate routes will also severely impact commute times for shoppers, thus reducing their available time to spend in our venues.

All of these points have been verified by independent studies throughout the U.S. post implementation of toll roads.

We ask today that residents join us in protesting this bypass of the legislative process by signing this petition to Bump the BR Bump Project today. It just makes good sense for Baton Rouge.